A profound sense of disbelief and tragedy has gripped the upscale Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana following a devastating fire at Le Constellation bar in the early hours of New Year's Day. What began as a night of celebration for locals and tourists alike quickly turned into a nightmare, leaving dozens presumed dead and around 100 injured, many with severe burns. The incident has left the close-knit community and visitors in shock, struggling to comprehend how such a disaster could strike a place renowned for its safety and infrastructure.

Crans-Montana, a popular, high-end destination, thrives year-round, offering world-class skiing in winter, golf in summer, and extensive mountain bike trails. It's known for being family-friendly, attracting a wealthy clientele, and constantly expanding with new developments. The resort's robust health and safety standards, coupled with immediate police response to the scene, made the fire at Le Constellation particularly shocking to residents and long-time visitors, who expressed that such an event was unfathomable in this well-appointed locale.

Le Constellation, a large and classic bar centrally located near the cinema, was a beloved gathering spot for both young people, locals, and tourists. It had space for approximately 300 patrons across two floors and a terrace, though the exact number of people present when the fire ignited around 01:30 local time (00:30 GMT) on Thursday remains unknown. Eyewitness accounts suggest the blaze may have originated when a waitress placed 'birthday candles' on champagne bottles, leading to a rapid and catastrophic spread. Two French women, Emma and Albane, who were inside, described how the flames quickly engulfed the 'entire ceiling', which was made of wood, rising 'very quickly' and creating extremely difficult evacuation conditions through 'narrow' escape routes and 'even narrower' stairs.

The scene inside the burning bar was one of unspeakable horror. An 18-year-old man, who bravely entered the inferno looking for his brother, recounted seeing 'people burning from head to foot, no clothes anymore', describing it as 'very shocking'. Another teenager inside the bar managed to escape by hiding from a 'wall of heat' and then smashing a window with his foot after initially failing with a table. Oleh Paska, a visitor staying nearby, initially mistook the series of explosions and cries for firecrackers or a fight, only realizing the gravity of the situation with the distinct sirens of multiple emergency services converging on the scene.

The scale of the disaster quickly overwhelmed local medical facilities. The intensive care unit at the nearest hospital rapidly filled, necessitating the transfer of severely burned patients to other medical centers, including Milan in neighboring Italy. Identifying the victims is expected to be a prolonged and challenging process, potentially taking weeks due to the severity of their burns, as noted by Italy's ambassador to Switzerland. Friends and relatives are enduring an agonizing wait for news, with one Italian man sharing the distress of friends burned and another missing.

In the aftermath, the usually bustling heart of Crans-Montana transformed into an eerily quiet, cordoned-off area. The police presence, initially giving the scene an almost surreal quality on New Year's morning as people slept off celebrations, soon gave way to an increasing number of media tripods and small huddles of residents and tourists discussing the tragedy. Many woke to find the police cordon, unaware of the horror that had unfolded just hours earlier. The extensive cordon, road closures, and visible disruption underscored the magnitude of the catastrophe, leaving the affluent Swiss Alpine resort grappling with a profound sense of shock and loss.